


There Beneath

by SideOrderOfGay



Series: Supercorptober 2020 [6]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, F/F, Implied/Referenced Torture, Lex Captured Supergirl When She First Arrived On Earth AU, Supercorptober 2020, supercorptober 2020 - Day 6: Warm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26858323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SideOrderOfGay/pseuds/SideOrderOfGay
Summary: After her brother's death Lena is left to pick up the pieces. In Kaznia, she stumbles upon the last thing she thought she'd find, and it makes her consider that maybe some things should stay buried.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Series: Supercorptober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948081
Comments: 13
Kudos: 220





	There Beneath

There was a biting chill in the air that made Lena shudder the second she disembarked the jet. She pulled her coat tighter around her as her breath turned into puffs of steam before her, clenched her teeth and marched on. She had a five minute walk in front of her, since she hadn’t been able to land anywhere near the ruins of Lex’s old facility, every prospective landing space having been obstructed by rubble.

“Keep the engines running for me?”, she asked her assistant, who gave a brief nod. “I doubt it will take long.”

Just a month ago, she wouldn’t have dared set foot in one of her brother’s secret laboratories without a small private army, but now, several empty, burnt out facilities on every continent later, she’d learnt just how serious her brother had been when he’d said _tabula rasa_. No witnesses, no survivors, nobody left to tell the tale, and no chance of anyone ever bastardising his tech after his death. And all that was left for Lena was to sift through the ashes, trying to find something, anything, just the tiniest fractions of her brother’s wicked life’s work that she could turn into something good, a small token of atonement for her family’s crimes. She wasn’t particularly optimistic after leaving the last dozen facilities behind empty-handed, it wasn’t likely that this lab located in Kaznia, the last one indicated in her brother’s notes that she’d studied for weeks, would be any different. Still, something compelled her to see this task through – maybe it was the perfectionist in her.

With a brisk pace she made her way towards the ruins, surrounded by a thick layer of black ash that made her march all the more arduous. Lena readily admitted that she wasn’t used to that kind of labour, the controlled environment of her own office had been by far her favourite arena to carry out her battles, but she couldn’t sit idly by and watch Lex’ secrets fall into the hands of corrupt governments or power hungry militias.

This facility looked much like all the others Lena had found, structures having been ground to nothing but scrap and rubble by powerful hidden explosives. The portion of the complex that was of course only a small percentage of its true expanses, the belly of the beast being hidden deep, deep underground. So far she’d been lucky, only having to call in support for the heavy lifting on a number of facilities she could count on one hand. Many others had completely vanished in sinkholes whose diameter could reach up to half a mile. For this one however finding a place to enter might prove more of a challenge, as the time that had passed had seen a heavy layer of both ash and snow cover the whole area. She could vaguely make out the structures commonly found in every one of her brother’s laboratories: The radio tower for intercepting local messages, since Lex was never one to be surprised in his own home. A small hangar, just large enough to hide one single passenger plane. Lena climbed her way over the rubble towards it, since it was built to outlast an outside attack it was the most likely point of entrance to the lower levels. She never made it there, since after just a few steps an odd detail caught her eye: A slab of concrete, in size about as big as a small transporter, propped up against the side of the one side of the lab’s foundations that still stood tall, forming a lean-to-shelter in a way that seemed much to deliberate to be the accidental by-product of an explosion. She stalked closer, her heart pounding heart with trepidation and a morbid sense of excitement – could it be that on her very last expedition she would actually find something worthwhile?

She shone her flashlight into the dark corners of the primitive shelter. Towards the back she could see a small molehill of rubble piled up, and as she inspected it closer, her breath caught.

The hole was no wider than six feet, extending into the ground diagonally, the incline not very steep. Earth and bits of stone had been pushed outwards and to the side. The signs were clear: Something had dug its way outside. Something strong enough to survive the explosion and collapse, and tear its way through metal and concrete alike. Something that might very well be out here still. Lena touched her earpiece.

“Jess?”, she said, amazed at how calm her voice sounded despite the tension that was mounting in her. “Jess, I found something. Keep your eyes and ears peeled.” She shut off the communicator before Jess could ask further questions.

Kneeling down to the ground, Lena peered into the small tunnel. She should really call for backup. But there was a nagging, dark curiosity inside her that urged her to go on, to just look a little further, pull the curtains back a few more inches -

A shout, loud, sudden. Lena jumped back with a gasp of surprise, reaching for her gun, eyes darting around frantically for the source of the sound. She didn’t have to look for long, since said source evidently was a young woman, dressed in only grey overalls as if the freezing temperatures outside were nothing but a mild summer’s evening, barefoot in the snow, distress clear on her face. Words were still flowing from her, but Lena didn’t recognize the words, not even the language. It sounded completely alien from any of the dozen languages she’d learnt over the course of her life.

“Who are you?”, Lena asked, and when the woman didn’t react, she tried again in Russian, to little avail. The woman advanced on her and Lena found herself stumbling backwards, raising her heavy flashlight to strike in a last ditch attempt to defend herself. The woman grabbed her arm, and Lena readied herself for a fight. But then, somewhere in the adrenaline-addled depths of her brain something registered. Something about the woman’s voice struck her as odd, and despite the alien language she realised that the woman wasn’t screaming, or yelling – she was pleading. The grip on her forearm wasn’t painful or even overly tight, instead, she notices the woman is pulling her forwards, away from the entrance to the facility. She forces herself to relax, lets the panicked woman scoot her out of the shelter, tries to catch her wild eyes and give her a reassuring smile.

“It’s okay”, she says, even though she’s almost certain the woman doesn’t understand her. Maybe she’ll understand the meaning behind her words nonetheless.

“It’s okay, we’re safe.”

Now that she was thinking more clearly, Lena could actually feel the warmth of the stranger’s skin radiate even through her thick coat and multiple layers of clothing underneath. Lena furrowed her brow. This woman’s body temperature had to be scalding – but she didn’t look feverish at all! There was no sluggishness to her movement, her eyes, while still darting around wildly, were focused and not glassy, she didn’t even seem to mind the cold. Without really thinking, Lena raised her free hand to cup the woman’s forehead, reading her temperature like she could distantly remember her mother doing on awful nights filled with fitful sleep and tentative bites of pretzel sticks despite her aching stomach. At least it seemed to still the erratic movements of the blonde, who looked at her in confused surprise, before she exhaled a cute puff of air through her nose and closed her eyes, leaning into the touch. She really was burning up. When Lena retracted her hand, she almost seemed to pout.

“I’m just taking your temperature, silly”, she said, and playfully swatted against the woman’s chest. Her chest, were she only now recognized the stylised L emblazoned.

_Property of LuthorCorp._

She swallowed hard at the reminder of her brother, disgust curdling in her stomach as she added one more heinous crime to the dozen others he’d committed. _Property_.

“Come on”, she said, coaxing the woman to come along with a gentle touch on her upper arm, while she activated her earpiece with the other hand.

“Jess?”

“Already finished, Miss Luthor?” The _I told you so_ remained unspoken yet clearly

“Something like that. I’ll be arriving soon, please prep the med bay until then.”

“The med bay? Miss Luthor, are you hurt?” All sense of smugness was immediately wiped from her assistants voice and replaced with worry.

“No, I’m fine. Jess, you won’t believe it, but I’ve found a survivor.”

When she was done giving Jess her instructions, she found the woman staring at her intently, head cocked to the side in a way that reminded Lena of a curious puppy.

“What is it?”, she asked. Maybe it was an exercise in futility, but language barrier or not, this woman was a human person, and she’d rather speak to her as an equal than drag her along.

“Kara”, the woman said, slowly, deliberately, in the same way a preschool teacher would spell a new word for their class.

“I don’t know what you mean”, Lena said, raising her hands helplessly.

“Ka-ra”, the blonde intonated again, laying a hand on her chest. And _oh_ , of course.

“Lena”, she replied, indicating back to herself, and this small gesture alone seemed to fill the woman, Kara, with boundless joy.

“Lena”, she parroted, sounding the word out on her lips.

“Come on, Kara”, Lena said, not even trying to hold back her smile, “lets get you out of the cold.”

As downright chipper as she was outside, Lena could see that behaviour instantly evaporate the second she lead Kara to the med bay. Her entire demeanour changed from cheerful to obviously frightened as Lena gently pushed her to sit down on the examination chair, her eyes darting towards the exit every few second. Lena took Kara’s hands in hers and started murmuring quiet encouragements again, and it seemed to help the woman relax a little bit. She eyed Jess suspiciously as she approached with the fever thermometer, so Lena took it from her assistant’s hands in order to make Kara more comfortable.

“Open you mouth”, she prompted, and after being met with as little response as she respected, she demonstrated to Kara what she wanted her to do, feeling altogether very silly. It didn’t help that she could clearly hear Jess giggling at her antics. At least Lena didn’t remain at the centre of her attention for too long, because the second the thermometer touched Kara’s tongue the woman decided to bite down, _hard_. The thermometer splintered between her teeth like a dry twig.

“Shit, shit, shit”, Lena chanted as she frantically searched for a tissue to wipe off the blood, but when she turned back to Kara there was no blood to be seen, only the woman’s apologetic grin and as she sheepishly mumbled “it’s okay?”. Lena looked to Jess in utter bewilderment, and Jess looked right back, equally stunned. For all the disappointments the previous facilities had wrought, this mystery more than made up for it.

This moment didn’t prove to be a fluke, as Kara took to the English language with a speed and skill that would make several so-called geniuses turn green with envy – Lena should know, she was one of those. In a span of hours, they were able to hold rudimentary conversations with her, supplemented by a lot of wild gesturing. In a strange way, it reminded Lena of a frantic round of charades, especially with how much fun Kara seemed to be having, now that she’d warmed up to Jess. Her assistant in turn was _definitely_ having far too much fun, especially as the fiendish delight she reacted with when Kara told her that her eyes were pretty prompted the woman to add _pretty when you turn red like this_. If Lena hadn’t been to busy trying to hide her embarrassment she’d have sent Jess the most murderous of glares.

“So, what _is_ down there?”, Lena asked.

Kara made an adorable _hrrm?_ sound, turning away from Jess to whom she’d been pantomiming the animals she’d encountered in the tundra surrounding the complex in order to learn their names.

“What is down there?”, Lena repeated, gesturing in the vague direction of the ruins. As if a switch was flipped, Kara seemed to shut down on the spot.

“No”, she implored, “no, no no. Don’t go there.”

“It’s okay, I just want to know”, Lena tried to comfort her, but it obviously didn’t work.

“ _Not_ okay. Don’t go. Don’t go there”, Kara insisted, wrapping her arms around herself as if she was only feeling the cold now.

“Okay, okay, I won’t go”, Lena said, raising her hands in a gesture of surrender. “Don’t worry, I won’t go there.”

She and Jess exchanged looks as Kara slowly calmed down. They both knew Lena was lying through her teeth.

She’d put her coat back on, replaced the batteries in her flashlight, taken her compass and a signal flare. It was still dark out, after Kara had finally fallen asleep sometime around 2AM, curled up across two passenger seats and a soft quilt draped over her, even though she’d insisted she didn’t need it. From the way she’d curled herself up in it it seemed that she at least appreciated the comfort. She’d looked peaceful slumbering there, cute almost, and it did make Lena feel bad about what she was about to do. Well, chances were that she was setting herself up for another disappointment, finding the bowels of the facility burnt out and blackened, and she’d be back before Kara even knew she was gone. She _had_ to see it through. Lena took a deep breath, reached for the exit hatch, and -

“Lena.”

It was her. Her hair was still wild from sleep, and the quilt was caped over her shoulder like a cape. She wasn’t upset, or even angry. At this moment, Kara just looked tired and resigned.

“Don’t go.”

“Kara, I _have_ to. It’s all I’ve been doing, all I’ve been thinking about for months. I have to finish it.”

“I stop you.”

It wasn’t a threat, just a statement of fact. No fight was left in Kara’s eyes. There was just resolution, the same resolution Lena had seen reflected in the mirror on the day she’d decided to find whatever was left of her family’s legacy and turn it into a force for change, for good.

“Kara, I know whatever was down there was used to hurt you, and I understand why you’re scared, but I need to make sure nobody else gets hurt. I need to turn it into a tool to help people.”

“It can’t help! No help, only hurt. No use. Just hurt.”

When she met Kara’s eyes again, Lena suddenly felt suffocated by the pain she could see in them, enough pain that even a fraction would be enough to bring any person to their knees. She looked back over her shoulder, where she could see the cold, empty blackness of the tundra in a starless night. The knowledge that there might be something buried there, calling out to her to find it seemed to eat away at her.

“Please”, Kara breathed, and Lena could feel her arm, still outstretched towards the hatch, fall limply at her side. Kara rushed towards her in a flash, to quick for her eyes to follow, and before her brain could catch up Lena found herself enveloped in a hug. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d ever been _hugged_. It felt safe, somehow, Kara’s unwavering presence keeping her grounded, and it filled her heart with a warmth she hadn’t known before.

Maybe some things deserve to be – and stay – buried.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from the song by The Oh Hellos  
> I've never listened to the song but it keeps showing up in my Youtube Mix and the title lives rent free in my head.


End file.
